User blog:Pikazilla/Conquistador, Musketeers of the Guard and Pirate Review
It sounds odd putting three historically different characters into one category, but that is the case: these are all musketeers. All three have muskets, spears (halberd, bayonet and boarding pike), straitswords (Pirates did indeed use the Cutlass, however the Spadroon rapier was very common) and the Musketeer and Pirate both had pistols and grenades. Granted; they have different golden-ages, so this disclaimer is going to point that out. I’ll be looking at mid 1500s for the Conquistador, mid 1600s for the French Guards, and early 1700s for Pirates. Conquistadors are packing heavy gear; a massive halberd pike, a Morion steel helmet, and a steel Curiass. Look at the Pirate; he has no armor, and his Boarding Pike is an improvised fishing tool. This is a good indicator of the evolution of black-powder weapons. The Conquistador had the mentality that both he and his opponent had the Arquebus: which was heavy, had a complex reload, and had to rely on a matchlock that could unexpectedly have its match fizzle out in battle: so better have a good melee weapon on standby. The Pirate meanwhile has to deal with the lighter, simpler and relatively reliable Flintlock Musket. No point in having armor when .75 cal musketballs would go through steel like butter, grenades will exploit any gaps, and don’t even try to tank Cannon Grapeshot: that’s what you use to kill Elephants. Even the Rapier, a weapon all three warriors share (although the designs are slightly different) was great for dealing with armor. A Rapier is simply the longest sword that you can use with only one hand, giving you a range advantage without it weighing down your agility (if your enemy is using something larger, the Rapier’s speed will most likely strike first. Or just shoot him with a pistol: Indiana Jones style.) What makes it so great is its precision; it can not only aim at weakpoints and joints of plate-armor but can actually use the momentum of the thrust to slide up a chestplate to strike the neck. Fencing might not involve the user doing Shaolin or Ninja flips; but I consider it to be an advanced swordfighting technique, more due to its efficiency, range, speed and precision: which I think is more relevant in a melee than the strength of a flail, the brutality of an axe or the ‘skill’ of nunchakus (lol). Now to have a Musketeer be compared with ancient warriors; yeah that’s basically a curb. A Flintlock Musket has an effective range of 50-100 meters and can penetrate heavy armor. In comparison; the largest bows and crossbows had an effective range of at least 30 meters and their armor penetration, especially against a wedge-shape Musketeer Steel Cuirass, is debatable at best. Meanwhile to give a Musketeer a fair fight would mean to put him against another warrior that would classify as a Musketeer. Even a relatively primitive rifle like a cowboy’s Henry Repeating Rifle has a range of at least 200 meters, with a 15 round magazine. It would be odd to simply remove the Pirate’s musket like they did in Deadliest Warrior, and if that was the case then his only weakness would be superior range. No ancient warrior (not even with the armor of a Knight, nor the agility of a Ninja) is going to tank or dodge a well-aimed strike from a Blunderbuss or Grenado. The Knight could win if able to engage in close combat, but under normal circumstances he can’t close that distance without being an easy target. As mentioned before; these combatants have such advanced anti-armor weapons that armor faded out of warfare until Kevlar armor was created. The Ninja could ambush and assassinate, but so can the Pirate: the Ninja doesn’t have a monopoly on ambushing. Yes Pirates can ambush, play Assassins Creed 4 for good examples of this (you can still be good at ambushing even if you ignore the Hollywood physics, game mechanics or eagle-spidey sense). Besides if you ever play the game Holdfast: Nations at War, you know the best strategy to deal with a bunny hopper is to just shoot him when he ends his jump. Conquistadors are a fairer matchup, simply because an Arquebus is so primitive compared to Flintlock Muskets that they don’t have the same range or reliability. However the Conquistador still compensates by having the aforementioned Morion steel helmet and a steel Curiass. So if fighting a Knight, then here’s the fight: the Conquistador can score a fatal shot regardless of the Knight’s armor, while a Knight crossbow needs to ignore the Curiass. Assuming the Knight dodges the musket and the two engage in close combat: the Knight has more areas to strike the Conquistador, but the Conquistador’s weapons are precise enough to go around armor anyways. So basically the fight is even, except the Conquistador has a slight long-ranged advantage. So even though the Conquistador’s face and limbs are vulnerable to anything, the Knight’s more expensive full plate armor ironically isn’t a guaranteed defense to any of the Conquistador’s weapons. Even the added protection of a shield might not be enough to stop a musketball. Category:Blog posts